Audio 2:47
Tourism operators, unions look to Broome gas hub future

Caitlyn GribbinUpdated
Sat Aug 31 09:26:00 EST 2013

The remote Western Australian town of Broome is renowned for its camels, pearls, beaches, and massive gas resources. Now, the tourism industry is breathing a sigh of relief that the pristine Broome coastline won't become the site of an onshore gas processing plant at the controversial James Price Point. Instead, Woodside Petroleum hopes to get approval from its joint venture partners to process gas offshore, which pleases tourism operators but initially angered unions. They now concede that offshore processing is the only viable option and say jobs must go to locals.

Transcript

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The remote Western Australian town of Broome is renowned for its camels, pearls, beaches, and massive gas resources.

Woodside Petroleum's recent decision to process gas offshore initially angered many locals who lamented the loss of jobs, but the tourism industry couldn't be happier.

Caitlyn Gribbin reports from Broome.

(Camel grunts)

CAITLYN GRIBBIN: Taking a camel ride at Cable Beach is high on the Broome tourist's bucket list, and tourism operators here rely on the natural beauty of the north-west WA town.

John Geappen, who runs camel tours, was worried about the future of those natural resources.

But that was until recently, when Woodside Petroleum announced it would not process gas onshore near Broome and would instead go offshore.

JOHN GEAPPEN: I saw it as being the most logical way to go. The reality is that floating the boat was always the most environmentally sound option. It doesn't impact on the pristine, untouched coastline of the Kimberley. It's a bit of an oxymoron to have such a wilderness, an untouched area, and then have an industrialised refinery in the middle of it.

CAITLYN GRIBBIN: Woodside says floating technology will be profitable, despite the fact that more gas would've been processed onshore.

Woodside says it's confident the project will benefit its shareholders and the broader community.

STEPHEN PRICE: We lost a great opportunity to develop the Kimberley as another LNG (liquid natural gas) hub within this state, and we lost the opportunity for all those construction jobs.

CAITLYN GRIBBIN: What jobs will be created, though, once Woodside do go offshore to process the gas?

STEPHEN PRICE: The operations of these pieces of equipment historically have been using Australian labour. There's anywhere between 100 to 300 people that will be employed offshore to operate these things. There'll be a very large maintenance workforce that is required to look after these vessels, and that could potentially be in the thousands as well.

CAITLYN GRIBBIN: In Broome itself, what potential is there onshore to service this offshore plant?

STEPHEN PRICE: Well we really need to develop a supply base in Broome to enable us to provide the services and provisions required for the offshore facilities, and also to allow the companies to come up and establish their businesses here in a location that is close to being able to service the offshore facilities. And that's a very important next step that needs to happen to ensure that we can capture that market.

CAITLYN GRIBBIN: And tourism operator John Geappen says Woodside has struck a good balance with its offshore proposal.

JOHN GEAPPEN: I think it's a great idea they've scrapped it, and I think Woodside been very conscious of the fact that there's been a lot of support against the proposal. I think they've looked at that and at the end of the day, they've got shareholders, they've got to try and keep everybody happy. And no-one's got a problem with them taking the gas - you can have the gas - but do it sensibly.